Homeless campus plan moves forward

The Riverview Hope Campus has Sept. 30, 2012, in its sights.

That’s the day the Old Fort Homeless Coalition (OFHC) hopes to close on the property at 301 South E Street (formerly Riverside Furniture), which could become the campus designated for the integration of homeless services.

Plans for the campus have undergone a number of changes since the start of 2012.

Originally slated at 142,000 square feet, the size reduced considerably to 30,000 square feet when the OFHC was considering a machine shop property at 320 South E Street just last month.

(The downsize was due to the River Valley Regional Food Bank, a former partner in the campus, receiving a $2 million property donation from the Thomas F. James Family Realty Limited Partnership to move in to the former Price-Cutter supermarket at 1617 Zero Street in March 2012.)

With now a third location change to the former Riverside Furniture building, the campus could end up close to original specifications.

OFHC Vice-President Ken Pyle approached Calmo Realty and Dale White to do a commercial appraisal of the property.

Calmo/White appraised the building once before in April 2008 and determined a market value opinion of $840,000 at that time, Pyle said.

The property’s listing price is $800,000, but a final sale would be contingent on “a satisfactory Phase I Environmental Review, receipt of all grant funds, and other conditions specified in a letter of intent,” Pyle added.

The agencies associated with the Hope Campus have won around $640,000 in funding toward the project, which carries an estimated price tag of $2.282 million.

Part of the grant application process requires the applicant to specify all possible funding sources, and according to Pyle, the outstanding grant applications list is $131,336 as the expected amount needed in donations to close out funding should all pending grants be awarded.

With applications already submitted, Pyle expects decisions on approximately $710,000 in grant funding by June 2012.